Saturday, November 26, 2016

I don't know what happened as to why I haven't blogged in such a long time. Well, I know what happened. It's called "life."

I felt so badly for so long and couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. A general malaise. I would get home from work, take Penny out, and then go lay down. Months of this. I finally made a doctor's appointment, and after listening to me for a couple of minutes, she sent me next door to the hospital to get a belly ultrasound. When it was over, the tech said he needed to call the doctor and left the room. He came back in and asked me to follow him, and he led me to Admitting. What? Uh uh. No way. The doctor called me on my cell and said my gall bladder was about to explode and it needed to come out. Well, I protested all the way through admitting because my dog was at home alone and my car was in the parking lot. You know what? They totally ignored me. Anyway, just an overnight stay, a couple of days home to recuperate, and another few weeks to get adjusted to, once, again, having a body part removed. I think I've finally turned the corner although I'm still a little scared to eat certain things. But, as they say, all's well that ends well.

So I haven't been sewing at all. I've read new quilting books. I've ordered new patterns and fabric. I've read hundreds of blog and IG posts. No sewing at all. That's about to change.

I have two months of Portage Lake BOM to get caught up on. Thank goodness it's all piecing with only a tiny bit of applique. I have two months of Sew Sampler bonus blocks to do. And I have several backings to make. I'm going to get all of the above done before the end of the year.

I decided that in 2017 I was going to teach myself to English paper piece. The inspiration was Minick & Simpson's market release quilt, Lake Effect. Love that quilt!

The pattern is not out yet, but I saw that Laurie had the template and hexie paper pieces on her site, so I ordered them. Oh, my, I wasn't quite prepared for the package that arrived yesterday.

I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but included were two acrylic templates and about a bazillion precut papers. That is not an exaggeration, a bazillion. The six-sided elongated hexie template and a teeny one that's an irregular triangle. Teeny. I had to study the picture carefully to even find them in the quilt. Yep, they're there. Oh, my! Gulp! Okay, so I kinda got scared. Maybe I need to try an easier project first.

So Brenda Riddle regrammed an Instagram post from Sweet Girl Studio about a kit she was offering out of Brenda's fabrics. I'm on it! Just regular hexies. "I can easily learn EPP on this project," she said with confidence! She -- that's me.

Well, that package arrived. I'm feeling all confident when I opened the package - and then I fainted. Beautiful Brenda fabrics and two packs of ----- 1/2" hexigon papers. One-half inch. As in .5". Really?

But you know what? I'm up for it. Up for both of these projects. I'm just trying to wrap my mind around turning the seam allowances on that tiny triangle in Laurie's quilt and the 1/2" hexie on the other one. Wish me luck!

In other news, Thanksgiving was quiet here. I cooked a ham and my favorite smothered green beans and potatoes. I wasn't so sure how the green beans would work without my missing body part, so I put in lots of potatoes. I ate a little and my freezer is stocked with quick meals. I totally forgot until the next day to cook baby yellow squash. It was a tradition in our house growing up. My mother would say that we had to have squash because that's what the Pilgrims ate. My dad would a.l.w.a.y.s reply, "You ought to know. You were there." We always groaned, rolled our eyes, and as I got older, I starting saying it along with him. A happy memory!

We're so busy at work as it's tax season. I truly believe we have some of the nicest citizens here of any city in the country. We're a small enough community that I remember a lot of them from last year. I will have my one-year anniversary on 12/10. Doesn't seem like a year, does it? And two years since I moved here! Anyway, being busy sure does make the days fly by.

That's about it for now. I have a lot of catching up to do, both in the Cottage and on my blog. More posts to come.